Articles written by Philissa Cramer
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'Barbie' director Greta Gerwig wants the movie's viewers to 'feel like I did at Shabbat dinner'
(JTA) - Barbie the doll has a deep Jewish history. Now, the creator of "Barbie" the movie hopes watching the film will also evoke a deep Jewish experience. Greta Gerwig, who conceived and directed...
Helen Mirren plays Golda Meir in a new film. The two are also (kind of) related
JERUSALEM (JTA) - Helen Mirren will soon become linked with Golda Meir in the minds of many viewers when she plays the late Israeli prime minister in a new film. But the award-winning actress has...
'Jeopardy!' featured a suburban Detroit synagogue once called 'a concrete Sinai on the shoulder of Interstate 696'
(JTA) - Viewers of the popular game show "Jeopardy!" got a glance of one of the United States' most distinctive synagogue buildings on Tuesday, after a clue showcased Congregation Shaarey Zedek in...
Tel Aviv University to remove Sackler name from medical school, weeks after family set terms of opioid settlement
(JTA) — For years, as the Sackler name fell from art museums, colleges and even a wing of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater amid revelations about the family’s contributions to the opioid crisis, it remained very much attached to the medical school a...
Israel to invest $40 million in North American Jewish day schools
(JTA) — Citing “a major crisis in Jewish education,” Israel’s Diaspora ministry plans to pour about $40 million into training educators at Jewish schools in the United States and Canada. Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister of Diaspora...
Rabbi Kushner dies at 88
(JTA) - Rabbi Harold Kushner, one of the most influential congregational rabbis of the 20th century whose works of popular theology reached millions of people outside the synagogue, died on April 28,...
British Jewish schoolchildren presented a new 'Adon Olam' for their king's coronation
(JTA) — Among the many honors accruing to King Charles III coronation was a new version of a traditional prayer performed by a British-Jewish children’s choir. United Synagogue, the union of British Orthodox synagogues, commissioned a new...
Netanyahu cancels appearance at US Jewish event in Tel Aviv hours before planned protests
(JTA) — In a surprise move, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has backed out of his appearance at a major conference of U.S. Jewish leaders in Tel Aviv, just hours before a speech that was expected to draw mass protests. But in a sign that...
Mad Magazine cartoonist who also inked Chabad comic dies at 102
(JTA) - Perhaps the greatest influence on Al Jaffee, known to readers of Mad Magazine as the creator of the "Fold-In," was the time he spent living in a Lithuanian shtetl as a child. Jaffee had been...
This Jewish studies professor won $60,000 on 'Jeopardy!'
(JTA) - The most notable message Melissa Klapper got during her four-night run on "Jeopardy!" didn't come because the Jewish studies scholar was unable to answer a question about Yom Kippur. It also...
A 'historic' day in Israel ends with a political compromise - and big questions about the future
(JTA) — Like hundreds of thousands of her fellow Israelis, Kelly Breakstone Roth’s instinct on Sunday was to take to the streets. The only wrinkle: She and her family have been in Brooklyn for the last two years, part of the diaspora of...
'Fiddler' star Topol dies at 87
(JTA) - Chaim Topol won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of an immigrant to Israel, stepped off the stage in London to fight for his country and had his sketches of Israeli presidents turned into...
'Day of Hate' against Jews passes with packed synagogues and no violence
(JTA) — A “National Day of Hate” against Jews planned by white supremacists that triggered sweeping warnings from law enforcement and Jewish security officials came and went without significant incident on Saturday. Synagogues and Jewish...
Richard Belzer dies at 78
(JTA) — Richard Belzer wasn’t just a hard-boiled Jew who rose from a troubled childhood to the top of his field — he played one on TV. Belzer, who died Sunday at 78, was a familiar face because of his longstanding roles on “Homicide: Life on...
'Mind your own business,' Israel's Diaspora minister tells US ambassador about judicial reform urging
(JTA) — The Israeli minister responsible for relations with Jews in the Diaspora has a message for the government of the country where most of them live: “Mind your own business.” Amichai Chikli made the comment Sunday in a radio interview in...
Rescue team evacuated from Turkey
(JTA) — One of the Israeli teams dispatched to Turkey to assist after the devastating earthquakes there has headed home after being informed about a “concrete and immediate threat” against them. United Hatzalah told its team of roughly two...
'We've unfortunately been preparing for this'
(JTA) — A New Jersey synagogue is crediting recent safety improvements after a Molotov cocktail thrown at its door overnight caused little damage. Still, Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield canceled activities on Sunday as the police investigated,...
92-year-old Holocaust survivor was Doug Emhoff's guest
(JTA) — Second gentleman Doug Emhoff extended his focus on Holocaust remembrance by inviting a Washington, D.C.-area survivor to be his guest at President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech Tuesday evening. Ruth Cohen, who survived multiple...
This year's 'Jewish Nobel' is a group prize, going to Jewish activists supporting Ukraine
(JTA) — A prize established to honor a single inspiring Jew with a lifetime of achievements has been awarded this year to a nameless group whose work is ongoing: Jewish activists in war-ravaged Ukraine. The Genesis Prize Foundation said the war in...
Florida school board cancels Paula Vogel's 'Indecent'
(JTA) — In 1923 in New York, a Yiddish play that featured the first lesbian scene on a Broadway stage was censored for being indecent. In 2023 in Florida, a play about the first play has been canceled for the same reason. For many involved in the...
Republican Jewish Coalition CEO: George Santos 'will not be welcome' at RJC events
(JTA) — George Santos’ first Chanukah party with the Republican Jewish Coalition was his last. The group said it will not host Santos at any future events after the congressman-elect lied to RJC officials and to the public about being Jewish and...
Broadcaster is voice of World Cup victory
(JTA) — Yes, Lionel Messi will forever be the face of Argentina’s long-awaited World Cup championship on Sunday. But the voice of the victory belongs to the Argentinean Jewish sportscaster who...
Michelle Williams says she plans to raise her children Jewish
(JTA) - Michelle Williams is one of the only non-Jewish actors with a starring role in "The Fabelmans," director Steven Spielberg's autobiographical film based on his Jewish family. But it turns out...
Israeli coalition deal gives Itamar Ben-Gvir control
(JTA) — Itamar Ben-Gvir, the right-wing Israeli politician called a “pyromaniac” by his critics because of his penchant for inflaming his country’s deep tensions, will head Israel’s police forces, under the terms of a deal inked with...
Double bombing in Jerusalem - 1 dead, 22 injured
(JTA) - Two bombs rocked bus stops at crowded entrances to Jerusalem early Wednesday morning, killing a teenager and sending about 20 people to the hospital, some in serious condition. The fatality...